Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Cambridge, Newburyport, Foxborough: fireman, homes, high school)

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by id77

I kind of feel like Boston didn't quite experience the same pandemic as everywhere else. Whereas there were lines of people waiting outside grocery stores well into this year, that never happened with any regularity in Boston. The only places I see with regular lines are random retail shops (Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Apple). Why those places have lines every day is still a mystery I've yet to crack.

Dare I even say that, aside from more masks and takeout dining, things never really stopped feeling normal in Boston -- just quieter.

This heat wave isn't helping. I'm not excited to pop on a mask when it's 95 outside. I'm still keeping one handy, and there's been a few times I've donned it on Newbury due to the crowds, almost none of whom are wearing masks. The irony on that of course is most of the people in those crowds are from suburbs where you see mask rates that are much higher.

There's still 1-2 fast casual places mandating masks for entry, but by and large if you're vaccinated it seems the restrictions have come off.

That's a pretty fair assessment. I actually never waited in a single grocery store line and I'm floored that so many people did. I think a lot of those luxury retailers used the pandemic as an opportunity to implement extreme limitations on capacity (beyond state/federal guidelines). While we don't generally browse the luxury stores all that often, we did have to go to Cartier a few months back and they were only letting 8 people in the store (which is multiple levels and quite spacious) at a time and requesting that people make appointments. I had to get a watch serviced at Tourneau and they were limiting it to 4 customers in the store. Both had lines. With such limited capacity, it doesn't take much at all for the queue to develop. I think the vast majority of folks going in/out treat these places like a free museum exhibit, so waiting in line is worth it I guess. For the retailers, it's easier to supervise when there's a limit on capacity (easy days for the security guards), and a line outside the door makes it look like they're wildly popular.

The takeout shops around here have almost all dropped their mask requirements for vaccinated people. It still feels weird to walk into a takeout place without a mask. I suspect it'll be a bit before I'm comfortable doing that. Not sure I'm ready to fly without them though.

[msRB311]

There was one time last fall I went to derby st shops in hingham and was going to go to Whole Foods. There was a line out the door and I was like wtf? I didn't wait. I did not need Whole Foods that badly but apparently others did because there was quite a line.

[id77]

Originally Posted by lrfox

That's a pretty fair assessment. I actually never waited in a single grocery store line and I'm floored that so many people did. I think a lot of those luxury retailers used the pandemic as an opportunity to implement extreme limitations on capacity (beyond state/federal guidelines). While we don't generally browse the luxury stores all that often, we did have to go to Cartier a few months back and they were only letting 8 people in the store (which is multiple levels and quite spacious) at a time and requesting that people make appointments. I had to get a watch serviced at Tourneau and they were limiting it to 4 customers in the store. Both had lines. With such limited capacity, it doesn't take much at all for the queue to develop. I think the vast majority of folks going in/out treat these places like a free museum exhibit, so waiting in line is worth it I guess. For the retailers, it's easier to supervise when there's a limit on capacity (easy days for the security guards), and a line outside the door makes it look like they're wildly popular.

The takeout shops around here have almost all dropped their mask requirements for vaccinated people. It still feels weird to walk into a takeout place without a mask. I suspect it'll be a bit before I'm comfortable doing that. Not sure I'm ready to fly without them though.

I'm a little surprised those retailers put up with being a museum display. I was assuming the people standing in lines had legit business and window shoppers just look at the window displays. With such an assumption, a capacity of 4 at a time sounds reasonable as I can't imagine there's that many people at any given hour either buying a watch or getting one fixed.

I seem to recall that during the shutdowns, Apple required an appointment and if you weren't at least semi-serious about either buying something or getting something fixed, they could just refuse to grant an appointment. Led me to believe almost nobody going in was just going to wander about and play with gadgets.

[charolastra00]

It's interesting that so many people didn't have lines. They were really common out here in Marlborough and Sudbury for months. That's part of why I started going to the grocery store right before close - no lines and few people.


I was in Target last night and it still seemed like about 75% of people were wearing masks. The people most likely to not be wearing masks were staff (no one at Starbucks, Pizza Hut, or the returns desk was wearing a mask) or older shoppers. This area tends to be a bit more conservative, so it surprises me that more people haven't removed masks. On the other hand, we have a lower vaccination rate than some of the neighboring communities.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

That's a pretty fair assessment. I actually never waited in a single grocery store line and I'm floored that so many people did. I think a lot of those luxury retailers used the pandemic as an opportunity to implement extreme limitations on capacity (beyond state/federal guidelines). While we don't generally browse the luxury stores all that often, we did have to go to Cartier a few months back and they were only letting 8 people in the store (which is multiple levels and quite spacious) at a time and requesting that people make appointments. I had to get a watch serviced at Tourneau and they were limiting it to 4 customers in the store. Both had lines. With such limited capacity, it doesn't take much at all for the queue to develop. I think the vast majority of folks going in/out treat these places like a free museum exhibit, so waiting in line is worth it I guess. For the retailers, it's easier to supervise when there's a limit on capacity (easy days for the security guards), and a line outside the door makes it look like they're wildly popular.

The takeout shops around here have almost all dropped their mask requirements for vaccinated people. It still feels weird to walk into a takeout place without a mask. I suspect it'll be a bit before I'm comfortable doing that. Not sure I'm ready to fly without them though.

This is all just risk management. The New York Times has Suffolk County at 3.1 per day per 100,000. I need to see the Thursday state numbers since they don’t align with last Thursday’s state numbers but Bristol County is now 3.0 per day per 100,000. We’re in Eagle County CO. It’s 1.0 per day per 100,000. High vaccination rate. You don’t see many masks. I’m unlikely to indoor dine in New Bedford since the vaccination rate is so low but I don’t plan to bring a mask to the beach or the boat dock like last summer. I’m vaccinated. I’m unlikely to get enough viral load to defeat my immune system.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by id77

I'm a little surprised those retailers put up with being a museum display. I was assuming the people standing in lines had legit business and window shoppers just look at the window displays. With such an assumption, a capacity of 4 at a time sounds reasonable as I can't imagine there's that many people at any given hour either buying a watch or getting one fixed.

I seem to recall that during the shutdowns, Apple required an appointment and if you weren't at least semi-serious about either buying something or getting something fixed, they could just refuse to grant an appointment. Led me to believe almost nobody going in was just going to wander about and play with gadgets.

The way that both worked (at least how I think they worked based on a conversation with the associate) is that serious buyers could make appointments and that "walk-ins" were limited to extremely low numbers (like 4) to leave capacity for serious buyers or people getting service who had appointments. We made appointments in both places and didn't wait in line. I'm sure some of the people in line ended up making purchases, but it appeared (in both places) that the vast majority were just browsing. These places aren't doing high volume sales.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

It's interesting that so many people didn't have lines. They were really common out here in Marlborough and Sudbury for months. That's part of why I started going to the grocery store right before close - no lines and few people.

There are a multitude of small grocery stores and markets in the city that offset the need for many of those supermarket trips. When I lived in the 'burbs, I basically went to the supermarket for any/all grocery needs. Plus, during the worst of the restrictions (we were in Somerville) we had about 15 supermarkets within a 15 minute driving radius. So we made quick walks to McKinnon's, Foodland, BFresh for smaller ventures and popped over to Stop & Shop or one of several Star Markets whenever we needed more and didn't want to wait in line. Wegman's is our favorite, but we rarely went during the pandemic because there was always a line. It was just so much easier to pop into any number of other nearby spots with zero lines.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Wegman's is our favorite, but we rarely went during the pandemic because there was always a line. It was just so much easier to pop into any number of other nearby spots with zero lines.

Some stores ignored the capacity limits. Wegmans did honor it.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Wegman's is our favorite, but we rarely went during the pandemic because there was always a line.

Trader Joe’s in Cambridge and Allston had some significant lines as well.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Some stores ignored the capacity limits. Wegmans did honor it.

I think most of the chains were reasonably good about it. Our nearest Stop & Shop closed one entrance and had a counter at the door that was open. Some of the smaller markets we visited definitely ignored the limits.

Originally Posted by porterhouse

Trader Joe’s in Cambridge and Allston had some significant lines as well.

So did the one at Assembly. I had mixed luck when trying the Fresh Pond Whole Foods, but never saw a line at the Beacon St. one in Somerville.